Somerville College

Single Equality Scheme

2012-2015

Somerville College Woodstock Road Oxford OX2 6HD

www.some.ox.ac.uk

Registered Charity No. 1139440

2

Somerville College

Single Equality Scheme 2012-15

1. Introduction by the Principal

On behalf of the Governing Body of Somerville College, I am delighted to endorse the publication of this

Single Equality Scheme for 2012-15.

We are committed to eliminating discrimination and encouraging diversity within the whole College

community and that means students, academics, support staff and alumni. Our aim is that the College

constituency will be representative of all sections of society and that all those within the College

community will feel respected and able to give of their best. To that end our policy is that equality and

fairness will be provided for all in our employment and for all those who study here. Discrimination on the

grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or

belief, sex (gender), or sexual orientation will not be tolerated.

We oppose all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination and our commitment to this principle extends to

visiting students, guests, conference clients, and contractors carrying out work on behalf of the College.

All College members past and present, whether part-time, full-time or temporary, will be treated fairly and

with respect. Selection for student entry or for employment, promotion, or training, will be on the basis of

aptitude and ability. All College members will be helped and encouraged to develop their full potential.

I am confident that their combined talents and resources will continue to help the College go from strength

to strength.

Dr Alice Prochaska MA, DPhil, FRHistS

Principal

2. About Somerville College

Somerville was founded in 1879 to give women, who at that time were excluded from membership of the

University, the chance to benefit from an Oxford education. Today Somerville College is one of 38

independent, self-governing colleges of the University of Oxford. The College has approximately 390

undergraduate students following three and four-year courses across a wide variety of disciplines, and 110

graduate students reading for masters and doctoral degrees. The College is governed by its Principal and a

Governing Body consisting of professorial, tutorial and administrative fellows. The College has

approximately 100 working within its academic community. Tutors are assisted by college lecturers, and

the research community is also supported by postdoctoral research fellows. The College employs

approximately 100 support staff whose role is to work together to support the provision of an inclusive,

stimulating and safe environment in which the academic and research activities of the academic members

and students may thrive. An active Alumni relations network supports a regular programme of events

organised by the College throughout the year. Additional income to support the College’s academic

activities is raised through providing conference facilities and accommodation for educational and

corporate clients and visiting students during the vacations.

3

3. Equality mission statement

Somerville College’s mission is to promote scholarship through teaching and research. We offer places to

undergraduates in line with the University of Oxford's agreed code of practice and to graduates admitted

by the University of Oxford.

The College undertakes to work to remove any barriers, real or perceived, which might deter people of the

highest ability from applying to the College, either as staff or students. The College aims to assist its

students and staff in reaching their full potential, and to provide an inclusive environment which values

diversity and maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its

staff, students and alumni are respected.

4. The Aims of Somerville College

1. To provide opportunities to pursue learning at the highest level to all those capable of making good

use of them, recruited through an equitable process based on achievement and potential.

2. To encourage the intellectual maturation of individual students by encouraging them to engage

their critical faculties and intellectual curiosity, develop their analytical skills, and articulate their

views.

3. To support the research of its Fellows and to foster disciplinary and inter-disciplinary diversity.

4. To safeguard the security of the College's academic provision through increased endowment funds.

5. To work wholeheartedly within the collegiate University.

6. To be a good employer for all staff.

5. Where we are on equality

5.1 Equality Committee

The College established its Equality Committee in October 2007. The Committee’s terms of reference are:

to review the College’s equality policies and progress against the Integrated Equality Action Plan.

to review employment policies affecting academic members and support staff, such as harassment.

to monitor equality statistics on race, gender, age, and disability, and other relevant areas covering

staff and students for admissions, student progress and staff appointments.

to review equality legislation and associated duties. The Committee has been responsible for the

preparation of actions plans, including the Disability Equality Scheme and Gender Equality Scheme.

The Committee has monitored the implementation and subsequent progress of these actions

plans, and has been responsible for carrying out impact assessments.

to review student welfare provision.

Representation at Equality Committee is from all members of the College community as follows:

the Principal

the Treasurer, Domestic Bursar, Human Resources Manager/Equality Officer

the Senior Tutor, Academic Registrar, Tutorial & Graduate Officer

one Academic Fellow (representing the Governing Body), one Academic Lecturer

4

one JCR representative (for undergraduate students), one MCR representative (for graduate

students)

the Equal Opportunities Representative for Support Staff

the Chapel Director

The Equality Committee reports to the Governing Body of the College and meets formally in Trinity Term of

each year.

5.2 Integrated equality and diversity

The College’s Integrated Equality and Diversity Policy was published by the Equality Committee in 2008 and

an Integrated Equality Action Plan was drawn up to monitor progress against its Disability Equality Scheme,

Gender Equality Scheme, and the Race Equality Action Plan. A summary of the Integrated Equality Action

Plan is attached at Annex 1. The integrated plan will be superseded by the Somerville College Single

Equality Action Plan 2012.

5.3 Consultation and engagement

Ongoing consultation and engagement of academic members, students and support staff on equality

matters has taken place through meetings of the Junior Common Room (JCR) (undergraduate students),

Middle Common Room (MCR) (graduate students), Somerville Staff Liaison Group (representatives from

academic members and support staff), Equality Committee, and Governing Body. The College will continue

to engage with these groups on equality matters and consider how they are affected by policies and

procedures and the priorities for action as identified in the annual Action Plan.

5.4 Accessibility

5.4.1 Disability services-based audit

A disability services-based audit was completed in 2009 which summarised works completed in

College from 2000 to 2008 and identified further works planned for 2009 onwards including the

following areas:

awareness and assumptions about disability need

difficulty of obtaining information from multiple sources

regard for unseen disabilities

signage

sound enhancement, especially in lecture rooms

arranging meetings with due regard to accessibility of venues

sufficient information available about access

equal opportunities shortfall in employment/recruitment

continued improvement in physical access to buildings and services.

The College will continue to review its practices to key issues relating to disability and access as

identified and expressed to the wider Collegiate University by special interest disability groups.

5.4.2 Accessibility of written materials

Recommendations for improving the accessibility of written materials were issued to all College

members through the College’s Equality Committee in 2010.

5

5.5 Equal Opportunities Monitoring

Collecting and analysing equal opportunities data helps the College to ensure that its Academic members

and Support staff are treated equally within employment and enables the provision of appropriate services.

It also helps inform policy and decision-making.

Equal opportunities monitoring data held by the College for current Academic members is currently limited

to age and gender. Equal opportunities data for the College’s Support staff currently includes age, gender,

disability, and race and these data are also held for applicants for Support staff posts. Equal opportunities

monitoring data is shown at Annex 2.

We recognise the need to do more to enhance the collection of equal opportunities data and to actively

encourage and improve disclosure rates and this objective will be included within the Single Equality Action

Plan for 2012. Owing to the relatively small number of Academic members and Support staff employed by

the College, we do not intend to collect equal opportunities data in relation to sexual orientation or gender

reassignment. This is because any data collected is likely to be statistically small and we consider there is a

high risk individuals may be identified if these data are published. However, the College will consider all

the equality strands within its policy and decision-making processes.

The College has a zero tolerance policy with regard to discrimination and harassment and bullying on the

grounds of any of the protected characteristics, and we believe that our management practices and

recruitment processes are sufficiently robust to support our equality and diversity policies.

We aim to publish improved equal opportunities data for Academic members and Support staff in Hilary

Term 2013 and annually thereafter. Any data collected on any of the other protected characteristics (in

addition to sexual orientation or gender reassignment) that have the potential to identify individuals will

not be published.

Monitoring of equal opportunities data for students is undertaken by the University of Oxford. At the time

this document was first published (26 January 2012), equal opportunities data was not available to the

College for analysis and inclusion within the Single Equality Scheme.

The College intends to publish data based on student ethnicity, disability and gender, once these data are

available, in the form of an addendum to this Single Equality Scheme.

5.6 Monitoring progress, evaluation and reporting

We intend to continue to consult and engage with College members in developing our Single Equality

Scheme and Action Plan through meetings of the Junior Common Room (JCR) (undergraduate students),

Middle Common Room (MCR) (graduate students), Somerville Staff Liaison Group (representatives from

academic members and support staff), Equality Committee, and Governing Body.

We will also set up review groups, focus groups and representative groups to address specific areas as will

be identified in the annual Equality Action Plan.

Due regard will be given in this consultation and engagement process to meeting the general duty of the

Equality Act 2010, namely to:

eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by

the Act.

advance equality of opportunity between people from different protected groups, including:

6

o removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected

characteristics;

o meeting the needs of people with protected characteristics;

o encouraging people with protected characteristics to participate in areas where their

representation is low.

foster good relations between people from different protected groups, including tackling prejudice

and promoting understanding.

We aim to meet our specific duty by publishing relevant, proportionate information that demonstrates our

progress against our equality objectives. Our first set of objectives will be published by April 2012 within

our Single Equality Action Plan and will be evaluated on a regular basis thereafter at an interval of no more

than four years.

Progress against the Single Equality Action Plan will be formally monitored and evaluated by the College’s

Equality Committee in Trinity Term each year, reported to the College’s Governing Body, and published on

the College’s intranet and website annually.

5.7 Responsibility

Ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the College meets its obligations under the general duty and the

specific duty lies with the Governing Body.

The College Equality Committee is responsible to the Governing Body for the promotion, development,

implementation, monitoring, prioritisation and review of the Single Equality Scheme and Action Plan.

All College Committees are responsible for ensuring that this Scheme is embedded in their duties and

functions in relation to all College members, and for taking forward specific actions identified within this

Scheme that lie within their remit.

Managers are responsible for ensuring this Scheme is embedded in their duties and for taking forward

specific actions identified within this Scheme that lie within their functional area of work.

The Treasurer will provide Governing Body with a report on the progress of Action Plan on an annual basis.

6. Equality Scheme and Action Plan Review

We will review our Single Equality Action Plan every 12 months and carry out a full evaluation of the Single

Equality Scheme and Action Plan within four years to help set a new agenda for action.

7

Somerville College Annex 1

Summary of progress against the Integrated Equality Action Schemes (2007-2011)

A. Equality & Diversity Progress made Completed By whom

1. Integrated Equality & Diversity Policy

Integrated Equality & Diversity Policy (2008) written and

approved by Governing Body

HT 2008

HR Manager &

Treasurer

2. Publish the Integrated Equality &

Diversity Policy

Integrated Equality & Diversity Policy (2008)

published on College website

issued to Support staff line managers

taken to the Somerville Staff Liaison Group

MT 2008

HR Manager

3. Update the employee handbook for

Support staff

Policy published in the revised Employee Handbook for Support

Staff (v.3 2009)

TT 2009 HR Manager

4. Provide training to Support staff

managers

Diversity training provided for Support staff managers,

supervisors and administrators

(Jigsaw at Work, 19 &20 March, and 27 July 2009)

MT 2009

HR Manager

Discrimination, harassment & bullying training provided to

Support staff managers

(Peninsula Business Services, 8 June 2010)

TT 2010 HR Manager

Dignity at Work (equality awareness, diversity and cultural

awareness) training provided for Support staff managers by the

Oxford Colleges’ Domestic Bursars’ Committee

(Peninsula Business Services, 17 November 2011)

MT 2011 Domestic Bursar

Key: MT = Michaelmas Term (Autumn) HT = Hilary Term (Spring)

TT = Trinity Term (Summer) EQC = Somerville College Equality Committee GB = Governing Body

GES = Gender Equality Scheme DES = Disability Equality Scheme

Annex 1

8

B. Disability Equality Scheme Progress made Completed By whom

1. Review access audit recommendations

Further progress made in improving the facilities available to

disabled staff and students, particularly in providing an additional

Disabled WC.

HT 2009

The Treasurer

2. Report on access works completed and

measures introduced

Full report compiled HT 2009 The Treasurer

3. Conduct a services-based audit and

compile a DES Action Plan

Services based audit completed. Areas covered included:

Works programmed for 2007-09 Remaining physical barriers Auditory/visual barriers ‘Major’ policies, plans and practices identified as high priority

for impact assessment Staff training levels and future needs Procurement processes and agreements

MT 2009

The Treasurer

4. Governing Body to agree Action Plan Action Plan agreed by Governing Body HT 2009 The Treasurer

5. Review current procedures for data

collection with a view to improving response

rates

Consultation carried out with support staff, academic staff and

students via representatives and committees

HT 2008-10

The Treasurer

6. Seek professional advice Meeting held with the University of Oxford Occupational Health

Service to explore how to improve response rates

MT 2008 The Treasurer &

HR Manager

7. Review current mechanisms for involving

disabled staff and students in the

development of the DES

Mechanisms for maximising the input of those with disabilities to

the DES reviewed through consultation with various College

constituencies.

TT 2009 Equality

Committee

Annex 1

9

C. Gender Equality Scheme Progress made Completed By whom

1. Gender Equality Scheme Gender Equality Scheme and objectives published MT 2007 The Treasurer

2. Carry out an equal pay audit and gender

audit and report to the Governing Body

Equal pay audit completed.

Further audits to be carried out annually in HT as part of the

annual pay review process for Support Staff, and reported to GB.

TT 2008

Ongoing

HR Manager &

The Treasurer

3. Review all current College policies for

Support staff

Policies for support staff have been reviewed to ensure gender

equality objectives are being met.

MT 2008

HR Manager

4. Ensure that statutory committees and

other meetings are scheduled with regard for

the family and caring responsibilities of the

committee members.

Review of meetings schedules with regard for the family and

caring responsibilities of the committee members.

Ongoing Equality

Committee

5. Allocate a training budget to enable the

commitments in the plan to be fulfilled.

Training budget allocated to enable the commitments in the plan

to be fulfilled.

Ongoing

The Treasurer

6. Review the Gender Equality Scheme

GES to be reviewed in the context of any review of the University

of Oxford’s Gender Equality Scheme.

Ongoing Equality

Committee

Annex 1

10

D. Race Equality Action Plan Progress made Completed By whom

12. Publish Race Equality Action Plan

Equality Committee reviewed the draft Race Equality Action Plan.

Agreed by Governing Body on 5.3.08.

HT 2008

The Treasurer

13. Strategic planning

(a) Incorporate race equality planning into strategic planning and

policy development

(b) Make specific provision for race equality issues in strategic

plans for 2008-09

Ongoing

The Treasurer

14. Development of policies and procedures

(a) Committees

Governing Body and all committees considered race equality

issues and the duty to promote race equality in the development

of policies and procedures

TT 2008, and ongoing The Treasurer

(b) Students Review student disciplinary and complaints procedures for

fairness, equity and consistency of implementation.

Ongoing Senior Tutor

(c) Staff disciplinary and grievance procedures Review staff disciplinary and grievance procedures for fairness

and equity and consistency of application.

MT 2009, and ongoing HR Manager

(d) Code of practice on harassment for staff

and students

College Harassment and Bullying policy for staff reviewed and

updated

Updated policies issued to all managers with line management

responsibilities.

MT 2008

TT 2009

HR Manager

The Treasurer

Code of practice on harassment for students to be reviewed. Ongoing Senior Tutor

(e) Review College procurement policies Raised with line managers at heads of department meeting.

Review completed.

MT 2008 The Treasurer

Annex 1

11

15. Student support

(a) Allocation of student accommodation,

distribution of bursaries, scholarships and

hardship funds

Review procedures to ensure fairness and equity, taking due

account of the relevant trust provision where appropriate.

Ongoing

The Treasurer &

Senior Tutor

(b) Provision of student pastoral support and

welfare services

Review provision to ensure equality of accessibility to all College

members

Ongoing Senior Tutor

16. Staff recruitment and selection

Review procedures for recruitment and selection in order to

ensure equality of opportunity

MT 2010 HR Manager

17. Consultation

(a) Somerville Staff Liaison Group

An Equal Opportunities Staff Representative has been appointed

to represent race and all other equality issues at SSLG & Equality

Committee

Ongoing

HR Manager

(b) Consultative forums for ongoing

development and maintenance of the race

equality policy

Set up appropriate consultative forums involving ethnic minority

staff and students

Ongoing HR Manager

18. Undergraduate admissions

(a) Implementation of the Admissions

Executive Action Plan and OCAE Code of

Practice

The College has worked in partnership with the Admissions

Executive to support the implementation of the Executive’s

action plan on undergraduate admissions.

The College has implemented the OCAE Code of Practice on

Undergraduate Admissions as agreed by Conference of Colleges

and the Admissions Executive.

Ongoing Senior Tutor

(b) Selection of undergraduate students

Those involved in undergraduate admissions will be briefed on

the implications of race equality

Ongoing Senior Tutor

Annex 1

12

(c) Subject selection panels

All subject selection panels will contain at least one member who

has participated in Oxford University seminars on student

selection since 1992.

Ongoing Senior Tutor

19. Selection of graduate students Those involved in graduate admissions will be briefed on the

implications of race equality

Ongoing Senior Tutor

20. Guidance, support and training

(a) Staff training opportunities

Training opportunities available to all of its staff to be reviewed

and additional provision provided where needed.

Ongoing HR Manager

(b) Guidance and advice from the University

Assistance to be provided with dissemination of information,

briefing material, guidance and advice from the University

Ongoing HR Manager &

Senior Tutor

21. Race Equality Action Plan The College will review its publications to promote access and

participation among students of diverse ethnic and faith groups.

Ongoing Senior Tutor

The College is actively engaged in recruiting candidates for

admission from all races and backgrounds equally.

Ongoing Senior Tutor

Annex 2

13

Equal Opportunity Monitoring Equal opportunities data for Academic Members and Support Staff are shown and considered separately

below. The applicant pools for posts in these groups are distinct from each other: Support staff are

recruited primarily from within one of the five local authority areas of Oxfordshire1 whereas Academics

may be recruited from across the UK, from within the European Union, or internationally. Therefore direct

comparisons between the profiles of the two groups are not considered helpful.

To date no equal opportunities data has been collected by the College in relation to academic recruitment

and data available for the purposes of this report, i.e. gender and age, has been obtained from payroll

records. Please note that the data below includes Academic Members in receipt of a College stipend but

does not include tutors carrying out external tuition for the College (who are not employees of the College).

Some equal opportunities data has been collected within Support staff recruitment and is included in the

comment below. As stated in the Single Equality Scheme 2012-15, we intend to widen the scope of data

collected for both Academics and Support Staff and this is included in our Single Equality Action Plan for

2012.

1. Age The College employs people across a wide range of age groups. The profile of ages for Academic Members

and Support staff is shown below.

Chart 1. Age profile of Academic Members as at January 2012 Chart 2. Age profile of Support Staff as at January 2012

Source: Somerville College Human Resources Department Source: Somerville College Human Resources Department

A total of 290 applicants applied for Support staff posts in 2011. Three vacancies attracted a high volume

of applications from these age groups in particular so that the applicant data are skewed towards the 18-25

years (26%) and 26-30 years (24%) age ranges. Overall applicants from all age ranges apply for Support

staff posts.

1 Cherwell, Oxford, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse, West Oxfordshire

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

16-18

19-25

26-30

31-35

36-40

41-45

46-50

51-55

56+

Age profile of Academic Members

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25%

16-18

19-25

26-30

31-35

36-40

41-45

46-50

51-55

56+

Age profile of Support Staff

Annex 2

14

2. Disability As at January 2012, 7% of Support staff have declared a seen or unseen disability. For the period January to

December 2011, 98% of applicants completed the section on the equal opportunities monitoring form

relating to disability and of these 7% declared a seen or unseen disability.

Chart 3. Disability profile of Support Staff as at January 2012

Source: Somerville College Human Resources Department

3. Gender The gender profile of Academic Members shows that 39% are female and 61% male. Governing Body

membership2 has a gender breakdown of 45% females and 55% males.

Chart 4. Gender profile of Academic Members

3 as at January

2012 Chart 5. Gender profile of Support Staff as at January 2012

Source: Somerville College Human Resources Department Source: Somerville College Human Resources Department

2 Governing Body membership comprises Tutorial Fellows, Professorial Fellows, Administrative Fellows, Additional Fellows, and

Titular Fellows. 3 Academic members includes Tutorial Fellows and Academics holding lecturership appointments

7%

93%

Disability profile for Support Staff

Declared disability

No known disability

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Female Male

Academic Members

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Female Male

Gender Profile of Support Staff

Annex 2

15

The gender profile of Support Staff shows that 61% are female and 39% are male. The higher proportion of

female staff may be attributed to the number of part-time domestic posts (29%) which tend to attract an

overwhelmingly large proportion of female applicants. In 2011 the nature of posts advertised during the

year may have resulted in the gender balance being slightly skewed towards males (59%). For example 84

applications were received from males for one particular post.

4. Ethnicity

The ethnicity of Support Staff is Black & Ethnic Minority (BME) 11%, White 86%, not known 3%.

Chart 6. Ethnicity profile of Support Staff as at January 2012

Source: Somerville College Human Resources Department

Comparative data for the resident population in Oxfordshire4 shows that the total resident population

within the county of Oxfordshire is Black and Ethnic Minority (BME) 5% and White 95%.

Chart 6. Ethnicity profile of Support Staff as at January 2012

Source: www.neighbourhoodstatistics.gov.uk

The ethnicity profile of applicants for Support Staff posts in 2011 was BME 24%, White 76%, and 3%

declined to specify.

4 Source: www.neighbourhoodstatistics.gov.uk. Dataset Ethnic Group KS006. Last updated 9.11.2004 [accessed 10.1.2012]

86%

11% 3%

Profile of ethnicity for Support Staff

White

BME

Not known

96% 87%

98% 98% 98%

4% 13%

2% 2% 2% 0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Cherwell Oxford South Oxfordshire

Vale of White Horse

West Oxfordshire

Profile of ethnicity of the resident population for local authority areas within Oxfordshire

White

BME

Annex 3

16

Definitions of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010

Definitions of the nine protected characteristics are listed below.

Age

Where this is referred to, it refers to a person belonging to a particular age (e.g. 32 year olds) or range of

ages (e.g. 18 - 30 year olds).

Disability

A person has a disability if s/he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term

adverse effect on that person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Gender reassignment

The process of transitioning from one gender to another.

Marriage and civil partnership

Marriage is defined as a 'union between a man and a woman'. Same-sex couples can have their

relationships legally recognised as 'civil partnerships'. Civil partners must be treated the same as married

couples on a wide range of legal matters.

Pregnancy and maternity

Pregnancy is the condition of being pregnant or expecting a baby. Maternity refers to the period after the

birth, and is linked to maternity leave in the employment context. In the non-work context, protection

against maternity discrimination is for 26 weeks after giving birth, and this includes treating a woman

unfavourably because she is breastfeeding.

Race

Refers to the protected characteristic of Race. It refers to a group of people defined by their race, colour,

and nationality (including citizenship) ethnic or national origins.

Religion and belief

Religion has the meaning usually given to it but belief includes religious and philosophical beliefs including

lack of belief (e.g. Atheism). Generally, a belief should affect your life choices or the way you live for it to

be included in the definition.

Sex (Gender)

A man or a woman

Sexual orientation

Whether a person's sexual attraction is towards their own sex, the opposite sex or to both sexes

Source: the Equality & Human Rights Commission (www.equalityhumanrights.com)